Standing at a crossroad: Brexit and the future of workers' rights

Today’s labour market figures show that young people continue to be particularly affected by the Covid-19 crisis. Both employment and unemployment levels have fallen between January and March, suggesting younger people are choosing to stay in education longer and delaying joining the labour market.

With the prospect of economic recovery in 2021 now gathering pace, employers across the country are beginning to plan for the longer term -including the extent to which hybrid working will become a permanent feature of their workplace.

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 comes at a poignant moment. We have seen rates of mental ill health steadily increase over the past ten years, and the pandemic has impacted on people’s wellbeing.

This joint Cambridge Econometrics and Work Foundation analysis underlines the need for policies that reduce job insecurity and improve access to high quality, well paid jobs.

The pandemic has exacerbated the blurring of boundaries between work and personal life for many workers, with many now calling for formal legislation on the right to disconnect from work and work related communications during leisure time.

Labour market figures show that the number of workers on temporary contracts is on the rise and, worryingly, that a larger share of temporary workers are doing this involuntarily.

Worker insecurity has been accelerated through the COVID-19 jobs crisis. Hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their job or seen their hours decrease, and the sectors most affected by the pandemic have a high proportion of workers in lower skilled occupations, often working under insecure terms.

The Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers must be treated as workers rather than self-employed contractors. The precedent set by this ruling could have sizeable implications for the future of the gig economy in the UK.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a steep rise in unemployment in the UK. This is likely to be bad news for disabled workers and workers with long-term health conditions, who already faced severe employment inequality prior to the pandemic.